Even though it’s really a day early, but hey! With what the weather promises for tomorrow, here we’re pushing everything we can onto Saturday, including Mother’s Day – and anyone referring to it as “birthing parent’s day” will be tossed out on their ear. Follow a search of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, to see why he is so proud of all the nonsense language ‘trip-ups’ introduced by the 117th Congress – it’s a ‘mosaic’ baby.

Now some coffee!

Making it the best – this is another summer season with our cabin sitting empty, Marcia’s rhubarb and chives growing wild, boats ‘pining’ for water, and ‘Our Duck’ 2CV locked up in a dark storage bin. After a long winter something had to be done.

So, this week I signed up for Paddlefest 2021. What is this? As their opening web page states; “The Ohio River Paddlefest is recognized as the nation’s largest paddling celebration with 2,000 participants traveling 9 miles through downtown Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky in canoes, kayaks, and other human-powered craft.”

I signed up early so that I would be able to rent a kayak (the reason I’m renting you now know).

Then, this coming week I’ll sign up for the Cyclones (our minor league hockey team) 10K. I’ve participated in past years in their “Frozen 10K” held in February, which this year was cancelled due to the Wuhan-flu. This summer its being held as the, one time only, ‘Un-frozen’ 10K.

Okay, so it’ll bring a little excitement into my life. Can you blame me?

Two superb session – were held and I learned and enjoyed immensely this past week. One was our former city Mayor, Ken Blackwell; Senior Fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance at the Family Research Council, Treasurer and Secretary of State for Ohio, Undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

He gave amazing insights into Election Integrity, the weaknesses witnessed during our 2020 elections, and the path forward with improvements. Hearing a front liner’s recounting of what actually transpired in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan during the election period was something. Truly a mesmerizing session listening to all the details and changes made in the few weeks beginning with the lead up to the election itself.

He didn’t state that he felt that with last fall’s election that cheating had occurred, but definitely that security issues and abject problems were prevalent. Better oversight and tighter controls are necessary.

The second session was with a human dynamo; Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy founded multibillion-dollar enterprises, led a biotech company as CEO, he became a hedge fun partner in his 20’s, trained as a scientist at Harvard and a lawyer at Yale, and grew up the child of immigrants in the small town of Evendale, Ohio. I noted on his bio that this local star is “turning heads on Tucker Carlson’s show and on the Opinion pages of the Wall St. Journal”.

Now he’s just finished writing a new book under the title of ‘Woke Inc.’. The book starts as a critique of stakeholder capitalism and ends with an exploration of what it means to be an American in 2021. It’s powerful.

Yup, still learning – still enjoying the process.

Critical Race Theory – is another bugaboo racing throughout our nation. It negates what Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized. It negates what it was we as a family strove to pass on to our kids as we raised them in a multi-cultural environment and in a multi-cultural school system.

Britannica defines Critical Race Theory (CRT); “CRT holds that the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans.”

It began a couple of decades ago and is now a full-blown teaching entity in higher education and into the public and some private elementary and high schools, busily placing everyone into their separate silos sniping at those in another silo.

Several States such as Iowa, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas have already taken measures to put a halt on it. Here in Ohio a lawsuit against the State Board of Education on the issue has been filed.

Tuesday, I’ll be listening to an EmpowerU session on the issue here in our State; featuring parents and a member of our State Board of Education.

In the meantime, watch this short YouTube as a parent, Asra Nomani, addresses the Fairfax County, Virginia, Board of Education and drops some incredibly powerful ‘truth bombs’. Listen to the end of this short video and how the Board responds and the tone of voice used. These are elected people addressing “We the People”.

Fini –
• Nearby Xavier University held graduation ceremonies yesterday. Walking through adjoining neighborhoods where much of the housing is student rentals I took note that front lawn “Beer Pong” is alive and well. Also, the Craft Beer Tours are up and running

• With the new Administration in charge changes are to be expected, some subtle, some not. The one that stands out (among many) is that for the first time in my memory the permit for the “Rolling Thunder” motorcycle rally to honor the vets on Memorial Day has been denied.

• Marcia is normally pretty blasé regarding news events. She sat up though when ‘cigarettes’ and ‘menthol’ were mentioned at the same time. Is this the end?

• Tonight on Saturday Night Live the host is Elon Musk. The little fragile cast members won’t be forced to appear should they not want to appear on the same stage as Elon. A bit of a far cry from the SNL I remember.

• Las Sunday was Vili’s final soccer game of the season, and it was his best. He played with vigor, heart, and had his head in the game. They lost, he won; and the pizza afterward had the whole team smiling!

• These three-wheelers have become fairly popular in and about our area. Most are Polaris Slingshots. The real time to watch them blast through the corner of Chaos and Mayhem is at night though. That is when the ones decked out with blinking, flashing, and rotating LED colored lights are the real standouts.

• Last weekend Marcia and I made our way to Findlay Market. It had been way too long between the ‘Wuhan’ restrictions and the cold weather.

• Since earlier on I mentioned education in 2021, were you aware that John Quincy Adams, at age 14 spoke 5 languages (English, German, Dutch, French, and Latin), had command of European history, and was already serving the country as private secretary to the then U.S. ambassador in St. Petersburg.

• I just noted that our neighbor across the street had his work-truck sideswiped during the night. A bit ago, the Police were there taking a report. The Corner of Chaos and Mayhem never sleeps.

Make it great week people, keep the peace, be happy, stay safe, be healthy and follow the science – the real science that keeps on searching!

Dirk